CHINA
Ten dead in mine blast
At least 10 people were killed and six are missing after an accident at a coal mine in Henan Province, state media said yesterday. The accident, a likely coal and gas explosion described as an “outburst,” happened at about 2:55pm on Friday in Pingdingshan, China Central Television said. Search-and-rescue efforts were continuing, it added. Xinhua news agency said that 425 people were working underground when the blast occurred. Those in charge of the mine have been taken into custody by authorities, it said.
AUSTRALIA
Taiwanese wins Hobart
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico yesterday dominated China’s Guo Hanyu (郭涵煜) and Jiang Xinyu (蔣欣玗) in straight sets to win the women’s doubles final at the Hobart International tennis tournament. Second seeds and Olmos beat the Chinese duo 6-3, 6-3, recovering after crashing out of the round of 16 at the Brisbane International earlier this month. Chan and her sister, Latisha Chan (詹詠然), bagged a gold medal for Taiwan in doubles at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in October last year.
NEW ZEALAND
Ardern marries
After almost five years of engagement and a postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday married longtime partner Clarke Gayford in a private ceremony. Details of the event were closely held by the pair, but the ceremony is reported to have been staged at a luxury vineyard in the scenic Hawke’s Bay region, 325km from the capital, Wellington. Earlier, police met with a small group of protesters who had plastered a wall with dozens of anti-vaccination posters outside the venue. One protester was also seen holding a sign that read: “Lest we forget jab mandates,” on the outskirts of the property.
TURKEY
Military strikes hit Iraq
The military yesterday carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria, the Ministry of National Defense said. The strikes came a day after an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq killed nine Turkish soldiers. The government often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a banned separatist group that has waged insurgency since the 1980s. The defense ministry said fighter jets destroyed caves, bunkers, shelters and oil facilities “to eliminate terrorist attacks against our people and security forces ... and to ensure our border security.” The statement added “many” militants were “neutralized” in the strikes.
ECUADOR
Five more inmates escape
At least five inmates on Friday evening escaped from the vast Guayaquil prison complex, with two of them caught shortly afterward during a vast search operation, police sources said. Shortly after their escape, two helicopters, as well as drones, flew over the surroundings of the huge prison, on the northern outskirts of the city. Authorities and the prison administration have not made an official statement so far. Since Sunday last week, the country has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis sparked by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country’s most powerful narco bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito.” His escape was followed by prison riots, hostage-taking and attacks on the police.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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